190 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



[ December 



peach season? We have noticei the same is true of 

 prape stains, or of almost any other kinds of fruit. 

 This is very true, and if remembered may save much 

 useless labor. 



THE NICEST IRONINO 



and pollshinj we have had done, and it wa? notto be 

 surpassed, was done without tlie addition of butter, 

 lard, candle or anything else to the starch, which 

 should betirst moistened with cold water, then stirred 

 while the boilin;; water is added. Boil a few minutes 

 and it is ready for use without any seasoniair of any 

 kind, but a willing; hand, well applied, with plenty 

 of lubrication about the elbows. Use large resrular 

 flat-irons for plain parts, but small round edged ones 

 for smaller parts and places, and the whole process 

 is much facilitated. 



TO CLEAN PRESERVE AND PICKLE JARS. 



Any cjood housekeeper will have these thoroughly 

 cleaned, when emptied of their contents, before 

 [lutting away. To do this, throw in a good handful 

 of washing soda, fill up the jar with boiling water, 

 cover and let stand for an hour. Then wash in the 

 soda water, scald and rinse in two boiling waters and 

 wipe dry. If any odor remains repeat the process. 



To clean bottles, put a dozen large tacks in with 

 strong soda water, shake well, and everything ad- 

 hering to the inside of the bottle will at once disap- 

 pear. 



SAGO CUEAM Sdup. 



An old fowl that is only fit for the stock pot makes 

 delightful stock for this soup, and it may either be 

 boiled till every particle of goodness is extracted, or 

 If a less strong soup is wanted, it may only be 

 boiled till tender, and the meat afterwards used up in 

 some of the made dishes where a white meat is re- 

 quired. Add to the stock while boiling, some white 

 pepper and a blade of mace. Strain and skim the 

 stock ; this last operation is best done with what is 

 called kitchen paper, a most useful article, and of 

 which a supply should be at the command of every 

 cook. Lay the paper on the top of the stock and 

 draw it off ; the fat on the top will adhere to it, and 

 the process should be repeated till the paper comes 

 off free from grease. For every 2 quarts of stock 

 take three ounces of sago or of tapioca, wash it in 

 hot water, and boil it in the stock for one hour. 

 Break the yelks of two eggs in a basin, and add to 

 them half a pint of cream or milk ; pour into it 

 gradually a little of the hot soup, then turn it all 

 into the remainder of the soup and heat it up, taking 

 care it does not boil. The stock for this soup may 

 be made of rabbit, or of veal, ur of a mixture of all 

 three. 



BEEF STEAK PUDDING. 



Cut up 1 i.J' pounds of beef into neat steaks. Dip 

 the chopper in cold water and beat thein a little to 

 flatten them and make the meat more tender ; roll 

 them up with a little pepper and salt inside. Line a 

 pudding basin with a suet crust made in the propor- 

 tion of fi ounces of suet to ^4 pounds of flour. Take 

 care to put the crust quite down to the bottom of the 

 basin, or the pudding will break. Cut the crust off 

 even with the top of the basin, lay in the meat ; if 

 liked add some chopped onions, half fill the pudding 

 with cold water, cover over the top with a lid of paste 

 reserved for the purpose, having previously wetted, or 

 better still egged the edges of each. Tie up in a pud- 

 ding cloth wrung out of boiling water and sprinkle 

 with flour. Boil for at least three hours. A couple of 

 sheep kidneys sliced and added to the pudding, very 

 much improves the flavor of the gravy, and, if liked, 

 three-quarters of a teaspoonful of baking powder 

 may be added to the crust ; but it should be borne in 

 mind that whenever baking powder is used, the ut- 

 most expedition in finishing up is necessary, as fer- 

 mentation commenees from the moment water is 

 added. 



Pumpkin Pies. 



We generally have them made of squash at our 

 house, but always call them pumpkin; it sounds so 

 much better. Squash is a dreadful name, and the 

 man who invented it ought to have had a big Hub- 

 bard hurled at his head, as Ichabod Crane was served 

 with a pumpkin, in the legend of Sleepy Hollow. But 

 pumpkin is altogether a different word, whether it 

 adorns a bill of fare, is woven into poetry, as 

 Whitticr did in the charming verses which we pub- 

 lished a few weeks ago, or is flattened into "pu-n-n- 

 kin,"a8 genial Robert Collyer does it. It is one of 

 the old fashioned vegetables that has held its own 

 among upstart rivals for a hundred years. Precious 

 little help has the pumpkin had from the propagating 

 gardeners who are so intent on improving nature's pro- 

 duction in other fields ? The pumpkin is of the same 

 honest, home-spun, self-made sort of vegetable vaga- 

 bond it was when it straggled through the corn- 

 fields, and dotted the autumn landscape with spots of 

 golden color, in the pioneer days when luxuries were 

 not necessities, and wants were few. They pretend 

 to say that the quality had deteriorated, like some 

 strains of blood in men whose heads this useful vege- 

 table has most uncharitably been made to symbolize, 

 and that the flesh is white and poor compared with 

 what it was in former years. Yet this may be merely 

 fhe croak of oW-tlme worshipers. But, whether 



made "true to name," or of sq— sh, a pumpkin pie, 

 if rightly made, is a thing of beauty, and a joy — 

 while it lasts. We know there is an attempt made 

 by certain super-civilized writers — of Hie sort who 

 order for dinner "a little tea-ah, and toast, waitah, 

 and a chicken's wing,"— to make abstinence from pie 

 a test of refinement. Some of them haven't gastric 

 juice enough to digest anything but a weak wash of 

 some sort; but others are just putting on airs. We 

 wouldn't trust some of the fellows who make a 

 virtue of abhorring pie, alone with a whole one behind 

 the kitchen door — even at a eleven o'clock at night. 

 A well made pie, of the right sort, is a good deal 

 more wholesome than half of the modern messes con- 

 cocted as a concession to dyspeptics, who charge upon 

 healthful food the natural results of their own sin 

 and ignorance, in working without exercise, sleeping 

 too little, and neglecting other normal conditions of 

 right living. But to return to our pies. As we 

 have said before, we scorn to make a cook book of 

 these columns, with our present supply of techuical 

 knowledge. But we do know that for a good pump- 

 kin pie you want plenty of inilk, just enough eggs, 

 not too much pumpkin, alump of butter and judicious 

 sprinkling of spices — principally cinnamon and gin- 

 ger. The concoction, when ready for the oven, 

 should lie about the consistency of good thick cream. 

 Pies that cut out only a little less firm than a pine 

 board — those that will "wabble" without breaking, 

 like a piece of leather — and those that run around 

 loose on your plate, are alike to be avoided. About 

 an inch thick strikes us a good depth for the filling; 

 two inches is better than the miserable, thin plasters 

 one sometimes seen at boarding houses, that look, for 

 all the world, like pumpkin flapjacks. The expres- 

 sive phrase "toothin," must have come from such lean 

 parodies on pumpkin pies. With the pastry light, 

 tender and not too rich, and a generous fiiling of 

 smooth, spiced sweetness — a little "tremble" as to 

 consistency, and delicately browned on top — a perfect 

 pumpkin pie, eaten before the life has gone out of it 

 (say three hours after baking) is one of the real ad- 

 ditions made by American cookery to the good things 

 of the world. We have our opinion of the man who 

 would get up dissatisfied or cross from a dinner 

 topped off with a quarter-section of such a pie. For 

 the first pumpkin pie of the season, flanked by a 

 liberal cut of creamy cheese, and a glass of cider 

 fresh from the press, we prefer to sit down, as the 

 French gourmand said about his boiled turkey — 

 "with just two of us, myself and the turkey !" Com- 

 pany is apt to distract the attention— and subtract 

 from the pie. — Ooklen Rule. 



Starting a Fire. 



A scientific paper tells us that "All housekeepers 

 have at sometime realized the difficulty of lighting a 

 fire in a still, damp morning, when the chimney will 

 not draw, and vigorous blowing proves inettectual. 

 Science explains the trouble as caused by the difficul- 

 ty encoinitered in overcoming the inertia of the long 

 column of air in the pipe or chimney, by the small 

 column of air that can be forced up through the in- 

 terstices of wood and coal, at the bottom of which 

 the fire is kindled. This may be remedied by first 

 lighting a few bits of shavings or paper placed upon 

 the top ; thus by the heated air's forcing itself into 

 the chimney and establishing there an upper current, 

 the room is kept free from gas or smoke which is so 

 apt to fill the room, and the tire can then be lighted 

 from belovv with good success." This is all very 

 well, but who wants to go to the top of the house to 

 put tire on the ehimnev top?* 



Very often the smoking comes from the mass of 

 material composing the fireplace being cold and dam p. 

 All this has to be heated before any draft goes up 

 the chimney, and is the cause of smoking oftener 

 than it is often thoui^htof. In these cases but a very 

 little fire should be made before the main one is 

 started. We have known of cases where the fire- 

 lighter has reported impossibility to get draft, go on 

 like a "good fellow " after some one has amused 

 himself for a few minutes in throwing in pellets of 

 newspaper to the stove successively as one would be 

 nearly burned out. As soon as the cylinder gets a 

 little warm — all the heat it wants— it is willing for 

 the wood and coal to take its turn. 



Eggs. 

 If an increase of eggs is desired in the poultry 

 yard, before large sums of money are expended in 

 the purchase of everlasting layers, we would recom- 

 mend the keeping of no hens after the first, 

 or at most, a second year. Early pullets give the in- 

 crease, and the only wonder is tliat people persist, as 

 they do, in keeping up a stock of old hens, which lay 

 one day and stop three, instead of laying three and 

 stopping one ; in some part< of England it is the in- 

 variable rule to keep the pullets only one year. 

 Feeding will do a great deal — a surprising work in- 

 deed — in the production of eggs, but not when old 

 hens are concerned ; they may put on at but they 

 cannot put dowu eggs. Their tales are told, their 

 work is over ; nothing remaining to be done with 



'It will be much better when it is uuderstood that the 

 toil of the coal aud wood is meauc and not the top pt the 

 ckimQej', 



them but to give them a smell of the kitchen fire, 

 and the sooner they get it the better. Of course, 

 there are some old favorites whose lives can be spared 

 as long as they can send forth their representatives. 

 Judicious mating, by which we mean the advantage 

 of a comparatively youthful cockerel, may be the 

 means of even exhibition poultry making their ap- 

 pearance from the egg of the good old hen, and here 

 we have the exceptionon the rule upon which we rely. 

 —London Agricultural Gazette. 



Useful Notes. 



Scattered thickly over France may be seen posted 

 the following notice from the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture : 



This placard is placed under the protection of good 

 sense and public decency. 



The Hedgehog lives on mice, small rodents, slugs 

 and grubs, animals hurtful to agriculture. Don't 

 kill the hedgehog. 



The Toad, farm assistant ; destroys from twenty 

 to thirty insects an hour. Don't kill the toad. 



The Mole, Is continually destroying grubs, larvae, 

 palmer worms, and insects injurious to agriculture. 

 No trace of vegetation is ever found in its stomach. 

 Does more good than harm. Don't kill the mole. 



The May Bug and its larvae or grub, mortal enemy 

 of agriculture ; lays from seventy to eighty eggs. Kill 

 the May bug. 



Birds. Ijach department loses several millions 

 annually through insects. Birds are the only eni- 

 mies able to contend against them victoriously. They 

 are great caterpillar killers and agricultural as- 

 sistants. Children, don't disturb their nests. 



Children will be paid 3.5 centimes for every 500 

 May bugs placed in the hands of the grade cham- 

 petre. 



'm 



Oatmeal in the Household. 



In (ireat Britain children of all ranks are raised to 

 an oatmeal diet alone because it causes them to grow 

 strong and healthful, and no better food can possi- 

 bly be found for them. It is also quite as desirable 

 for the student as for the laborer, and for the delicate 

 lady and her hard-working sister. Indeed all classes 

 would be greatly benefited by its use, and dyspepsia, 

 wtth all its manifold annoyances, can be kept at a 

 distance. Oatmeal is more substantial food, it is 

 said, than veal, pork or lamb, and quite equal to beef 

 and mutton, giving as much or more mental vigor, 

 while its great desideratum consists in one's not be- 

 coming weary of it, for it is as welcome for breakfast 

 or tea as is wheat or Graham bread. It can be eaten 

 with syrup and butter, like rice. It is especially good 

 for young mothers upon whose nervous forces too 

 great a demand has been made, and they lose the 

 equilibrium of the system and become depressed and 

 dispirited. Oatmeal requires to be cooked slowly, 

 and the water should be boiling hot when it is stirred 

 in. — Baldwiit^s Monthly. 



How to Clean Marble Top Furniture. 

 It may be of some value to housekeepers who have 

 marble top furniture, to know that the common 

 solution of gum arable is an excellent absorbent, and 

 will remove dirt, itc, from marble. The receipt is 

 from the Scientific .imerican, and the mode of appli- 

 cation is thus stated by that paper : First, brush the 

 dust oft' the piece to be cleaned, then apply with a 

 brush a good coat of gum arable, about the consistency 

 of thick office mucilage, expose it to the sun or dry 

 wind, or both. In a short time it will crack and peel 

 08". If all the gum should not peel off, wash it with 

 clean water and a clean cloth. Ofcourise, if the first 

 application does not have the desired eflect it should 

 be applied again. Second, make .a paste with soft 

 soap and whiting, wash the marble with it, and then 

 leave a coat of paste upon it for two or three days. 

 Afterward wash ott' with warm (not hot) water and 

 soap. 



LIVE STOCK. 



Crossing for Improvement of Common 

 Sheep. 



A correspondent asks us the following question ; 

 "What is the beat cross upon our common sheep for 

 quality and quntity of wool, for the general market 

 and for weight of carcass?" 



This inquiry can be replied to from so many stand- 

 points, that an opinion in favor of either of the re- 

 cognized breeds requires certain explanations. A 

 cross of the long wool— say Cotswold Liecester, or 

 Lincoln — will insure an increase of carcass to nearly 

 or quite double the value of the common, or native 

 dam. The fleece will have additional length, con- 

 siderable improvement in style, and a perceptible in- 

 crease in weight. The improvement in length and 

 lustre will add to its market value. 



A cross of middle wool, say Southdown, Shrop- 

 shire, &c., will add greatly to the quality of the 

 meat, somewhat less, though considerable, to its 

 quantity, will thicken somewhat the fleece, and give 

 it slight additional weight, without adding much to 

 its value per pound, 



